


Soundless

by ami_ven



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Community: writerverse, M/M, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-10
Updated: 2016-02-10
Packaged: 2018-05-19 14:40:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5970703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ami_ven/pseuds/ami_ven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The best thing Phil says, Clint can’t actually hear.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Soundless

**Author's Note:**

> written for LJ community "writerverse" prompt _The sweetest sounds I’ll ever hear/ Are still inside my head/ The kindest words I’ll ever know/ Are waiting to be said_ (“The Sweetest Sound” from _Rogers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella_)

Clint had been mostly deaf for as long as he could remember. According to his SHIELD file— the best information that could be found, bought or stolen— it had happened when he’d been about four, marked as a ‘childhood accident’ by a doctor who’d died of a heart attack before Clint had ever thought to look for him. But seeing as the likely perpetrator, Clint’s drunk father, was equally dead, he tried not to let it bother him.

He could hear well enough, anyway. In the circus, it was actually helpful that the crowd was just a background hum, letting him focus on making every seemingly-impossible shot, and working on his own, he made sure to arrange for meetings with potential employers in quiet places not easily found by law enforcement. Once he joined SHIELD, they gave him mission briefings in writing and a comm unit for fieldwork, and he hardly noticed his limited hearing until a rogue EMP knocked out both his hearing aids.

Clint wasn’t hurt, and he made it down to ground level before he realized that the noise from the surrounding streets meant he wouldn’t be able to hear the other agents. He was already preparing his _I’m listening_ face, when he froze.

_B-A-R-T-O-N_ , signed Coulson, slow but sure. _Report._

Coulson had never even hinted that he’d known Clint’s hearing was that bad, let alone that he was learning ASL, and Clint could practically feel the ridiculous crush on his handler growing.

Clint grinned, and began to sign back.

THE END


End file.
